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Schizotypal personality disorder, or simply schizotypal disorder, is a personality disorder that is characterized by a need for social isolation, and illogical behavior and thought patterns, often resulting in unconventional beliefs.

The schizotypal individual develops a fear of social interaction because of constant teasing and bullying. As infants they do not learn how to interact with others, and as children this inability quickly makes them a target for other children. Eventually, the individual learns (unconsciously) to see people as harmful and the source of humiliation and ostracization. This leads to the development of "ideas of reference," in which the schizotypal individual believes that events are of special relevance to him/her or that benign events are somehow related to him/her (e.g., sees two people laughing and believes that the people are laughing at him/her). The individual may realize that his/her ideas of reference are irrational, but maintains them nonetheless. This exacerbates the individual's social anxiety, causing him/her to skew away from society and withdraw into his/her own world. The most pervasive symptoms do not develop until adulthood, so it is rarely diagnosed in individuals under the age of 18.

Contents

The American Psychiatric Association's DSM-IV-TR, a widely used manual for diagnosing mental disorders, defines Schizotypal personality disorder as "A pervasive pattern of social and interpersonal deficits marked by acute discomfort with, and reduced capacity for, close relationships as well as by cognitive or perceptual distortions and eccentricities of behavior, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the following:

Ideas of reference (excluding delusions of reference)

Odd beliefs or magical thinking that influences behavior and is inconsistent with subcultural norms (e.g., superstitiousness, belief in clairvoyance, telepathy, or "sixth sense"; in children and adolescents, bizarre fantasies or preoccupations)

As with any other personality disorder, the roots of the Schizotypal individual's pathology is believed to stem from early childhood, particularly the first or second year of development. The child is subject to inadequate care, usually in the form of emotional/social neglect more than outright abuse. A child can be well-fed, kept clean and safe at all times, but without the constant social stimulation of the mother and/or father, the child (unwittingly) learns to withdraw into itself, and not to seek pleasure from the outside world.

There are many similarities between the Schizotypal and schizoid personalities. Most notable of the similarities is a mistrust of others and an inability to initiate or maintain relationships (both friendly and romantic)
The difference between the two seems to be that those labelled as Schizotypal avoid social interaction because of a deep-seated fear of people. The Schizoid individual simply feels no desire to form relationships, because they quite literally see no point in sharing their time with others.